Police charge day care provider

Andrew Seymour, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2007

An Ottawa day care provider arrested Monday
has been charged with four counts of forcible
confinement and one count of obstructing police.

Ottawa police laid the charges against
49-year-old Hellen Ranger Tuesday.
On Monday, police and Children's Aid Society
investigators entered Mrs. Ranger's private day
care at her home on Turner Crescent in the
Fallingbrook area to check on the well-being of
the children she was caring for.

Officers found 11 children inside the home.
Ontario law requires private day care providers
caring for more than five children, excluding
their own, to have a license.

Ontario's Ministry of Child and Family Services
has no record of a licensed day care operating
at that address.
Ottawa police Const. Alain Boucher could not
comment on the evidence against Mrs. Ranger.
However, he said the charge is laid when "you
keep somebody in a locked place without them
being able to leave."

Mrs. Ranger, who remains in police custody,
is expected to appear in Ottawa court Tuesday
for a show-cause hearing.
Police officers continued to guard Mrs. Ranger's
home Tuesday morning. Investigators are
currently awaiting a search warrant to re-enter
the home and begin gathering potential evidence.

Police were releasing few details Monday, but
the Citizen has learned the investigation was
launched after a parent called police about two
weeks ago to report her young daughter had
suffered a black eye, bruises and cuts while
attending day care.

"We went to investigate allegations of
neglect and made an arrest," said Ottawa police
Const. Isabelle Lemieux yesterday, adding police
were awaiting a search warrant last night to aid
their investigation.

Police entered the house accompanied by
Ottawa paramedics, who assessed the children.
None of the children appeared to be suffering
any injuries.

Throughout the day, parents rushed into the
house before emerging with their children, many
of whom appeared to be under five years old. One
mother sobbed as she buckled her daughter into a
car seat after meeting with police and picking
the child up from the home.

Several parents leaving the home said they
knew no details about why the day care was under
investigation.

One mother said she believed police were
investigating because there were "too many kids"
being cared for at the home.

"I knew there were four or five. I never knew
there were that many," said the mother, who
declined to give her name.

The woman said she counted as many as 10
children, including her two-year-old son, in the
house yesterday.

She said she received a call from the
Children's Aid Society asking that she come and
pick up her son immediately.

The woman said she "asked many questions,"
but got few answers.

"They just told me to find another day care,"
she said.

She said her son, who had been attending day
care at the home for the past year, had never
suffered any injuries that she knew of while
attending day care.

Neighbours expressed shock that police were
investigating Mrs. Ranger, who has lived at the
house with her husband for the past 20 years,
adding Mrs. Ranger had been operating the day
care out of her home for as long as 10 years.
The couple has two adult children, including a
son who still lives in the home, neighbours
said.

"It's shocking and surprising," said
neighbour Tania Nolet. "We always see her with
the kids outside. The parents are always talking
to her. It was never in and out," she said.

"We've never seen any (children) mistreated,"
added Lorraine Crawford, who described the
couple as "excellent" neighbours.

Mrs. Crawford said she never knew exactly how
many children were being cared for at the day
care, but knew there were "lots." "You'd
probably see seven to 10 cars, but that was over
a couple of hours," said Mrs. Crawford. "I
remember years ago asking about how many kids
she had and she said, 'lots.' " The Children's
Aid Society said it could not confirm or deny it
was investigating the matter due to privacy
provisions of the Child and Family Services Act.

If an unlicensed day care offers services to
more than five unrelated children, regardless of
how many caregivers are present, the operators
can be convicted of an offence that carries a
maximum fine of $2,000 for each day the facility
was run unlawfully.

"If we're made aware of an unlicensed
facility, we'll go to that home for an
unannounced visit," said Anne Machowski, a
Ministry of Children and Youth Services
spokeswoman.

"If they have more children than they should,
we will ask them to have some of the kids leave
for safety reasons."